Ex-Penguins Alexei Kovalev, Peter Skudra take over KHL teams
Former Penguins forward Alexei Kovalev and goaltender Petr Skudra have been named to the head coaching positions of teams in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Kovalev, an all-star forward for the Penguins in the late 1990s and early 2000s, takes over the Kunlan Red Star, the league’s only team based in China. He has served as an assistant coach for the team, which operates out of Beijing, for the past two seasons.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Kunlan Red Star will function remotely in Russia for the 2020-21 season.
Kovalev, 47, spent parts of six seasons with the Penguins in the late 1990s as well as the early 2000s and was named to All-Star Games in 2001 and 2003.
Skudra will take over Dinamo Riga, a club based in his native Latvia. This will be Skudra’s third head coaching job in the KHL, having previously led Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and Traktor Chelyabinsk.
The 47-year-old Skudra served as a backup goaltender for the Penguins in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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